22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

COMING CLOSER TO CHRIST:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor executed by the Nazis, wrote eloquently about the cost of discipleship: “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. . . . Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son. . . . Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life.”Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, trans. R. H. Fuller (New York: Macmillan, 1963), 47-48.

Taken from Healy, Mary. Gospel of Mark, The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Baker Book Group – A.

SENDING US OUT:
Identify our own cross. It could be something that I struggle with, a discipline I know that God wants me to follow, or something or someone who is annoying or bothersome.

  • Pray for the grace to carry my cross with perseverance
  • Make resolutions that will help me to offer my cross out of love
  • Crosses help us to get to heaven…..carry it with joy!